Newsstand - Flight delayed? Send an $8000 bill

FOREIGN (http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/flight-delayed-send-an-8000-bill/2008/03/20/1205602581463.html)airlines will have to pay up to $8000 a person for delayed flights, $1800 for lost luggage and $180,000 compensation for injury or death in a plane crash under new laws proposed by the Rudd Government.

The changes, introduced to Parliament by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, yesterday, would bring Australia into line with signatories to the Montreal Convention, an agreement between 86 countries.

Interesting to see if this goes ahead.

The article seems to imply that Oz is one of very few countries that hasn't adopted the standards:
Australia is the only OECD country not to have ratified the convention, which was made law in the US, China, Japan and New Zealand in 2003 and most of the European Union in 2004.

I wonder who is getting the $8K check for each of my delays :confused:

So, while FOREIGN airlines have to pay compensation, QF doesn't have to pay the compensation? :confused::confused::confused:

This could be better than mileage runs or bump runs- book runs on flights with high probabilty of delays. We might even need a new forum dedicated to Delay Runs... and a subforum on how to get your luggage lost so you can claim the $1800.

The numbers quoted are in Australian dollars, and they are the top limit that can be claimed without legal action. Thus, it is not a guarantee that they will pay that much for every possible claim.

The numbers quoted are in Australian dollars.

You want $US? :p

I've been delayed many times by Qantas (their jetconnect subsidiary has an atrocious on time performance), with no suggestion of any compensation.

OP's link (http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/flight-delayed-send-an-8000-bill/2008/03/20/1205602581463.html)
The changes, introduced to Parliament by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, yesterday, would bring Australia into line with signatories to the Montreal Convention, an agreement between 86 countries

If this Convention has been in place for years, signed by USA, EU, NZ, Canada and the rest of the OECD countries, this will just bring Australian-ticketed pax rights into line with the rights of pax who purchased in other countries.

Is that the intention, to bring parity to passenger rights, in line with those enjoyed in these countries that are already signed to the Convention?

Is that the intention, to bring parity to passenger rights, in line with those enjoyed in these countries that are already signed to the Convention?

Yes. Still, I'm waiting to see what the rules actually are regarding delayed flights, as there is no carrier, including ones that are already signatories, that actually pays that out for a delayed flight.

I am all for compensation if you get bumped off a plane because of airline overbooking, or misconnection due to bad scheduling, etc. But how exactly can passengers be compensated this much $ if for example, the delay was out of their control? And how did they come up with the $8000 figure? Why not just make it $80,000? How can the penalty exceed the value of a ticket by this much? At best, you have failed to deliver the contract of carriage, which grounds the compensation based on the ticket amount paid, or maybe something like 2-3x that. This sounds like you're being compensated based on lost productivity or something, which is a dangerous road to start down.

I believe these numbers are upper limits. it doesn't mean the airlines automatically give AU$8000 for each delayed passenger. for example, the convention allows airlines pay 1000 SDR (~US$1600) for each lost luggage, but the airlines normally pay much less as they require you show your luggage indeed worth that much.

I believe these numbers are upper limits. it doesn't mean the airlines automatically give AU$8000 for each delayed passenger. for example, the convention allows airlines pay 1000 SDR (~US$1600) for each lost luggage, but the airlines normally pay much less as they require you show your luggage indeed worth that much.

But if you can document the contents of your luggage they will pay the full amount. How does that translate to delayed flights? Certainly it is easier to document that the flight was delayed, right??

But if you can document the contents of your luggage they will pay the full amount. How does that translate to delayed flights? Certainly it is easier to document that the flight was delayed, right??

for lost luggage, you don't document the luggage is lost, you need to show the items in the luggage worth 1000 SDR to get the full amount allowed. for delayed flight, I guess you need to show your lose caused by the delay to get compensation -- such as hotels, rental cars, or rebooked flights etc. you don't get $8000 just because the flight gets delayed.